In the field of high-strength adhesives, it is desirable to produce an adhesive with a variety of beneficial characteristics.
For industrial, do-it-yourself and craft applications, it is desirable to produce a high-strength adhesive which is easily applied (typically for relatively high-volume applications). It is desirable to produce an adhesive that is spreadable and stays in place once applied. In addition, it is beneficial to produce adhesive that has good wet tack properties (i.e., having good resistance to separation of the adhered members along a vector normal to the adhered surfaces). Furthermore, it is desirable to produce an adhesive that is workable (i.e., having a practical repositioning time on the order of a few minutes) while being able to set relatively quickly to arrive at a strength sufficient to hold the substrtates or parts together to prevent separation strength (i.e., on the order of several minutes).
It is also desirable to have high-strength adhesives in a physical form that may be dispensed from open tubs or buckets through use of an application tool such as a trowel or brush, or that may be dispensed from tube- or plunger-type containers, such as syringe-type or caulk gun dispensers.
It is also beneficial to be able to produce high-strength adhesives from mixtures having a fluid consistency to allow for the use of standard mixing and dispensing equipment typically used for low viscosity products, but which set or "paste back" to a paste-like consistency allowing for ease of application. It is also desirable to have the product "paste back" within a workable time frame, allowing it to be dispensed to containers prior to arriving at its final physical form.
Another beneficial characteristic of high-strength adhesives is to be able to achieve relatively high final bond strengths with or without a static force being brought to bear (such as through clamping) to urge together the substrates to be joined.
It is also desirable to produce such high-strength adhesives in a physical form so that they reduce or prevent spillage from tipped open containers (such as tubs), or from tube- or plunger-type containers that are laid open on their sides. In the case of plunger-type containers, such as syringe-type or caulk gun dispensers, it is also desirable to be able to use high-strength adhesives that are of a sufficiently colloidal consistency that unused portions may be withdrawn into the dispenser once extruded, to avoid waste through over-application and spillage.
Another desirable characteristic in a high strength adhesive is the ability to be used on a wide variety of porous substrates including cloth and similar materials, without bleed-through of wetness.
From the following disclosure or through practice of the invention, other advantages may become apparent.